Cross-cultural adaptation of the Survey on Breastfeeding Knowledge (ECoLa)

A timely and updated support from the health care team in the initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding is essential. It has been documented that some health care providers lack the skills to offer adequate guidance to nursing mothers, but there are no local surveys on their knowledge based on standardized instruments. Adapting a validated questionnaire would allow to investigate and compare these data with those of other countries, and support the implementation of necessary educational strategies. Our objective was to obtain an Argentine version of the Survey on Breastfeeding Knowledge (Encuesta de Conocimientos en Lactancia, ECoLa) through a cross-cultural adaptation process with linguists, breastfeeding experts, physicians, and nurses. Adequacy, equivalence, and comprehension were verified in the discourses of experts and authors and cognitive interviews. A version of the ECoLa equivalent to the original version was obtained, which was semantically and culturally adapted to Argentine health care providers.